Directed and compiled by Hari Das Gupta.
Born in a cultured family of the present day Bangladesh in 1862, Ustad Allauddin Khan learnt Tabla and Violin as a young boy with his brother Aftabuddin. Alam, as he was called in his family, left home at the age of ten to join a Jatra band, a traditional Bengali theatre form, and toured around the eastern part of the country with them. During his early years, among his notable teachers were Nulo Gopal, Habu Dutt and Robert Lobo. Allauddin Khan learnt Sarod from Ustad Ahmed Ali Khan before coming under the tutelage of Ustad Wazir Kahn, Beenkar of Rampur, who introduced him to the intricacies of music of Senia Gharana. Later, he moved to Maihar, an estate in Central Province, to become the court musician of raja Brijnath Singh, and stayed there till his death in 1972. During his presence in Maihar, Allauddin Khan made a substantive contribution to Hindustani music. Even though he mainly played Sarod till the end, he developed a cosmopolitan approach in music by infusing Dhrupad ang, and Been baaj to the playing of many of the Hindustani music instruments. One of his major achievements was the formation of the Maihar Band with a hundred children. Known affectionally as Baba by those close to him, he produced distinguished disciples like Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Bannerjee (Sitar), Ali Akbar Khan, his son (Sarod), daughter Annapurna Devi (Surbahar), Pannalal Ghosh (Flute) and Robin Ghosh (Violin). He created many ragas and started Maihar College of Music in 1955 which bears testimony to his love for music. Allauddin Khan was honoured by the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, then known as Presidential Awards, in 1952, elected as Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1954, bestowed the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and Padma Vibhusan in 1971. The present film is a biographical homage to this artist of outstanding merit in the field of Hindustani Instrumental music.
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